Ancient Ronin
by Brawl499
Summary: As the Tenno awaken from cryo-sleep, watch as they gather their numbers, rebuild their strength, and set out to continue what they started with the fall of the Orokin, as well as delve into the events so long ago that drove them to their current goals. Will feature much original content and lore additions.
1. Chapter 1

_Tenno Dojo, Undiscovered Area of Space_

Nyx wandered aimlessly through the expansive halls of the Tenno Dojo, the faint bite of cryosleep still pulling at her mind. While walking quickly became second nature, her mind was still processing everything in a blur, the very corridors she was walking through feeling like they were getting longer and longer. Deciding to sit down, Nyx carefully took a seat on a nearby bench, resting her head back as she tried to make everything come into focus. She continued to attempt to set her thoughts in order, until the sound of a door opening brought her attention back to the physical world. On the other side of the opened door was Banshee, who was walking in a noticeably lopsided manner.

"It seems that cryosleep has affected each of us in very…_different_ ways." Nyx prodded, watching as Banshee collapsed on the floor. While it was used as a joke, the after-effects of cryosleep truly did affect everyone differently. Some had trouble walking at first, some couldn't formulate complex thoughts, and some simply could not muster the energy to move for a few hours.

"Neither of us are Frost, so miracles are _not _to be expected." Banshee retorted, clawing her way across the ground over to Nyx's bench. Once there, Banshee attempted to pull herself up onto the bench, being stopped by a bright white figure.

"I never thought _you_ would be the one needing help." Frost, seemingly unaffected, chuckled as he helped Banshee up. True to his statement, Banshee was the closest thing to a mother figure that the Tenno had beside the Lotus. While it was never excessive, she commonly placed the well-being of fellow Tenno above her own.

"Either your power over ice has left you unaffected, or you've been awake for a while. When did the pods start opening?" Banshee asked, leaning back against the wall behind the bench after Frost helped her take a seat. As he seemed to move perfectly fine, this only strengthened Banshee's reasoning.

"The pods only started opening about an hour ago, but I was released in advance since I'm resilient against the effects of cryosleep. I believe you two are some of the first to attempt moving around." Frost answered, taking a seat on a bench opposite theirs.

"Has Rhino come out yet? That man could probably shrug off cryosleep just like any other ailment." Nyx laughed slightly, thinking about the massive Tenno. All the Tenno were deadly or notorious in their own right, but only Rhino could pride himself on answering the question '_What's the deadliest thing you stopped with your head?_'.

"I believe his pod's going to open soon. Think you two can make it there?" Frost asked, mostly looking at Banshee.

"I shouldn't have an issue." Banshee defended, pushing herself to her feet. She was able to take two solid steps before the lingering cryo effects made her legs give out again.

"If it's any consolation, your ability to walk properly should come back within a day." Frost assured, knowing that a day was far too much time to hobble around in any Tenno's eyes. Withholding any comments, Banshee instead stayed silent as Frost helped her up, Nyx getting up shortly after. Starting to walk down the elaborate, dimly lit halls of the Dojo, the Tenno eventually turned to their left, entering the cryo-pod storage room. Many of the slots where pods should be were empty, with the exception of two open pods to their right. Resting up against the wall were Ember and Nekros, the latter of which seemed to be in a minor predicament.

"Can you _please_ work faster?" Nekros almost begged, looking at his shins and feet. His cryo-pod must have glitched, as it had coated the Tenno necromancer's shins and feet in a six-inch thick block of ice, which Ember was struggling to thaw out.

"I'm working as fast as I can. Thinking of responses to your _begging_ is difficult enough, and thawing you out is even harder." Ember jabbed, resorting to smacking her hands together in order to generate even a minor spark. Seemingly to no avail, Ember couldn't keep a steady flame in place for more than a few seconds, entirely at Nekros' expense.

"I can see they're getting along very well." Banshee joked, looking ahead again as they neared Rhino's cryo-pod. Seating Banshee against a nearby sideways pod, Frost moved to deactivate Rhino's.

"How much would you be willing to wager that he had Ironskin active this entire time?" Nyx asked, some of her older, less formal methods of speaking starting to creep back in. Before she could get a response, the pod cracked open with a hiss, swinging open to reveal the large, armored being inside. Rhino sat there, dormant, for an increasingly large amount of time.

"Is he alive?" Banshee asked, finding Rhino's lack of movement strange.

"The pod says he's perfectly alive and healthy, no ill aging effects or anything." Frost answered, checking the side of the pod. With an edgy 25 seconds having gone by, Rhino finally started to move: in the form of tipping forwards out of the pod, crashing face-first into the ground with a resounding bang. Shaking the entire room, the shockwave from his impact was actually strong enough to put a large crack in the ice binding Nekros' legs. Regardless of the heavy impact, which had also put a dent in the floor where Rhino's head had fallen, the massive Tenno continued to lie dormant.

"Hm, it seems like the ice may have locked up the external plates on his Warframe. Any suggestions on what to do with him?" Nyx asked, seeing a fine, crystalline pattern in-between Rhino's large armor plates.

"Our best idea would be to leave him where he is and let the ice dissolve. Maybe, once Ember is doing better, she can speed up the process." Frost reasoned, stepping past the large Tenno back towards Nyx and Banshee.

"So, is everyone accounted for?" Banshee inquired, wondering if every Tenno had been transported to the Dojo safely.

"A decent amount of us, but not everyone. Word is Excalibur had to hastily hide away in a VoidTomb near Mercury, and I believe the same thing happened to Valkyr. The Lotus has tracked Excalibur's exact signal, but Valkyr is still entirely unaccounted for. I can only hope that she's safe at the moment." Frost almost lamented, trying to brighten the mood with the news about Excalibur.

"If I may, I'd like to volunteer now to retrieve Excalibur once we can." Nyx suggested..

"You always _did_ stay close to your brother. If that's what you want, then you, me, and Ash can leave to retrieve him within the next few days." Frost assured, turning around as two more pods cracked open and their occupants hit the floor, these containing Saryn and Vauban.

"Forgive me for saying this, but I could design a better cryo-system than that while intoxicated." Vauban groaned, looking like general muscle pain was going to be his temporary affliction. Much like how Banshee was considered the watchful mother figure, Vauban was regarded as the Tenno architect. In addition to the crafty combat abilities given to him by the Void, the journey also granted him photographic memory, and an ever-expanding thirst for knowledge of technology. If the Tenno needed to have something constructed, broken down, or analyzed, they went to him.

"If we ever need to go into another slumber, please _do_ redesign these things. I feel like I'm going to be sick, and that's saying something." Saryn passively mocked, also not too happy with whoever designed these pods.

"Saryn feeling sick? I feel like I've seen everything now." Banshee chuckled, only doing so because she knew Saryn would be fine very quickly. Before Saryn could attempt to make a reply, both Tenno were silenced by a faint hiss, sounding like it was coming from high above them.

"Now, who would possibly have their pod activate that far up in storage? Shouldn't their pod be brought down first?" Nyx wondered, feeling confused. This feeling was replaced by shock, however, when the mystery Tenno, who turned out to be Zephyr, slammed into the ground in-between Banshee and Saryn like a lead balloon. The atmosphere getting tense, things lightened up once more when Zephyr raised one hand from her face-down position.

"I trust that the architects of our Dojo meant well, but whoever decided to place my pod far above the rest must've had a sick sense of humor." Zephyr grumbled, placing both hands on the ground shortly after and pushing up to sit on her knees. And true to form, Ember had a compulsive comment to give on the matter.

"Either that or they expected you to flap your wings and glide down more gracefully than a wide-bodied Kubrow attempting to surf off a lift system." Ember satirically prodded, having possessed a long-standing friendly banter-reputation with Zephyr. In return, Zephyr commonly made sure to blow by Ember with Tail Wind when the stakes weren't incredibly high. Much to everyone's surprise, the room erupted from a dimly lit, almost eerie room with the mist of cryo-residue collecting on the floor to a fully-lit, fully active-looking room in the span of a few seconds, followed by a transmission to every one of them.

"Tenno, I hate to force all of you into action this soon after awakening, but we have a list of things that need to be attended to before we can truly do anything. I've made contact with an arms smuggler named Darvo, as well as a faction leader that is sympathetic to our cause." The Lotus greeted, getting right to the point of what needed to be done.

"What would we need this….Darvo, for?" Frost asked, wondering what an arms dealer would have to do with their goals.

"Stray meteor activity seems to have knocked the Armory clean from the Dojo, so we need to establish direct contact with Darvo before we can acquire more weapons. They'll be old second-hand designs from the Corpus, a merchant conglomerate that Darvo's family holds a high position within. Darvo rejected this lineage to take his own path, but his father's persistence to get Darvo on the Corpus Board has left him with relatively easy access to updated Corpus shipping route data and warehouse locations. With his help we can get our footing and begin resource collection to make our own weapons. Unfortunately the Corpus are humans, just like the Orokin were. They may be the Orokin's genetic descendants, but Darvo seems more tolerable." The Lotus elaborated, pulling up an image of Darvo for the Tenno to identify with later.

"Once we _do _get some resources of our own, I can start to rebuild our own weaponry. It won't be as good as what we had before the Orokin fell, but it'll certainly be similar enough to be effective." Vauban pointed out, knowing that their Spectres would most likely require a whole new round of programming to accommodate foreign weaponry.

"And this faction leader? What purpose might they serve?" Frost inquired, checking the sideways pod, which looked slightly different than all the rest. Pulling up the occupant data on the right side of the pod, Frost became perplexed when instead of a Tenno he recognized, the name simply read 'E.L.F. 1', and its life form classification read 'Compressed Energy'. Combine that with the bright blue, almost glowing glass, and he had no earthly idea who, or what, was inside this pod.

"This faction leader can help us by serving as an additional set of eyes against the Corpus and the Grineer, a bellicose clone race that've formed an empire on oppression, slave labor, and ruthless conquest efforts. This leader is an Ex-Grineer soldier whom abandoned her superiors in the name of protecting innocent colonists. From what I could gather, the Corpus host grandiose parties for any that aren't impoverished slaves as a sort of facade to hide their true nature. There's one occurring in two days' time, and Darvo will be there along with this faction leader. They call themselves the Steel Meridian." The Lotus clarified, two more images popping up. One was a circle with a diagonal line through it, while the other was a headshot of a pale-skinned, slightly blue-lipped woman in heavy armor with a hood, and a metal plate over one eye.

"But, surely the Corpus oppose both of these individuals and their ideals. They'd simply attend the party without any ramifications?" Nyx pointed out, finding the logic quite odd.

"The Corpus let them in and impose a silent watch on these kinds of groups while they attend to keep up their benevolent public appearance. As much as they'd love to arrest every single faction leader on sight, it would come off as conspicuous to the public eye for such seemingly unprovoked aggression. While the Grineer are forthcoming and outright in their heinous actions, the Corpus work in the dark. The only part of the general public that knows their true nature are the few suffering colonists that evade them. As such, since these two are seen as Anti-Grineer heroes in the public eye, arresting them would upset quite a few people." The Lotus explained as she gradually restored power to the Dojo, starting with the Liset Bays. "Also, true to form, the Grineer are largely reclusive aside from a few dealings with the Corpus. One of their councilors, Vay Hek, might be there, but aside from that the Grineer don't care much for extra-species politics."

"Very well then. We make contact with these people, acquire some weapons, and then we rescue our own before an outside party can get to them. Vauban, if you can, set the Dojo to start constructing a new Armory from the resources we stored away." Frost settled as The Lotus closed down their comm-line, the response from the other Tenno comedically not being much more than a series of groaned-out agreements due to their various afflictions.

_Meanwhile, in a Void Tomb on Mars….._

Having been peacefully dormant for an incomprehensibly long amount of time, Mesa was quickly jolted awake from her cryo-sleep, part of a failsafe when the Void Portal was forcefully opened. Falling right out of the wall-mounted pod and collapsing on her right shoulder with a hard thud, Mesa made sure to stick to the Tenno Code of Silence due to the possibility of unknown hostiles. Everything coming into focus slowly, Mesa processed in her sideways vision that a trio of human-sized beings in strange, block-headed suits were closing in with weapons drawn. While she couldn't tell what the men were saying, a fourth, projected voice came through in clear English.

"Good….lock this one down and bring her to my lab, the Zanuka project could always do with some spare parts. Also, if she gives you trouble, let the Hyena prototype deal with her. Just, make sure it doesn't damage too much of the merchandise." The voice ordered, coming from a mechanical, bipedal creature painted dark green with a boxy gun mounted on top. Knowing enough to understand she was in danger, Mesa silently let her Regulator pistols, affectionately named Love & Mercy, snap out into place in her hands. Focusing on trying to get her momentum going, Mesa remembered why her pistols were named the way they were.

_Love and Mercy….May my enemies find it wherever they go from here, because they'll find none of it from me_

Quickly swinging her arms into place, Mesa fired a round from each of her pistols, one going through the ankle of one soldier while the other penetrated a second one's kneecap. Both collapsing to the floor, Mesa just as quickly rose to her feet, executing both wounded hostiles with a round through their thin visors. Aiming for the green mechanical creature next, Mesa let off a set of 6 rounds in quick succession, two going through its small head, one through the base of its gun, and the other three through the joint connecting its left leg to the rest of its body. Going down with little effort, the machine was nothing compared to the strange, quadrupedal machine quickly galloping into the room. Turning back towards her pod, Mesa aimed up and fired one round at a small container attached to the pod's left side, disconnecting it. Crashing to the ground and shattering to pieces, the container's contents turned out to be exactly what she hoped for. Diving for the weapon in order to dodge as the quadrupedal machine leaped at her, Mesa snatched up her Redeemer before whipping onto her back in search of her target.

Not seeing it, she quickly rose to her feet again, hearing its strange, almost indescribable screech-like noise soon after. Pivoting on her heel, Mesa swung with the Redeemer's blades, slashing the machine's back-mounted gun right off as it tried to leap at her. Skidding to a halt on the floor, the machine turned to look at her and positioned itself low against the ground, like it was ready to pounce. Noticing the machine's strange, three-bulbed optical setup, Mesa was more concerned with what faction she was fighting than this pathetic machine's threat level. Making the first move, it was the machine's mistake as Mesa sidestepped, hacking half of its front right leg off in the blink of an eye. Crashing face-first into the floor, the machine tipped tail-up before completely falling on its back, circuits far too confused from feedback overload to know which way was up. Moving its remaining legs like it was trying to run, the confused machine was a sitting duck. Walking up to it, Mesa punctually speared her bladed heel through its center optic, pushing its head down into the ground and making it start to vocally sputter. Pointing her Redeemer at the base of its neck, Mesa fired the gun-blade off, all but completely severing the machine's head. Freeing her heel from the dead machine's optic, Mesa turned to face the exit to her tomb, hoping that the Dojo and her fellow Tenno were safe.

_Especially with the second-rate Cryo-Pods the Dojo got…._

Post-Chapter Note:

First thing I wanted to address before anybody becomes morbidly confused due to the lack of clear explanation in the actual chapter: Due to the negligible amount of really cohesive lore in Warframe, this story is going to take bits and pieces of what we've been given and put it together into something full-fledged that makes sense. While there's a decent amount that will be me filling in gaps or providing my own explanations, I hope it'll be interesting to read. Second, the "Tenno Code of Silence" is there to not ret-con Alad V's "Mute Peasants" comment during the The Profit trailer. What it is, is that the Tenno are capable of talking, but vehemently refuse to do so when any entities, be it biological or mechanical, that are not the Lotus, fellow Tenno, or individuals that the Tenno deeply trust are around. Even if other Tenno are around, the presence of even one being that is not one of the above three will shut every Tenno in the vicinity up instantly, entirely as a 100% guarantee that their motives or next plan of action is never revealed to a possible enemy. On top of that, when the Lotus speaks, she sometimes masks what she's saying under a veil of religious conviction to further throw off possible eavesdroppers. What these true intentions she and the Tenno are hiding, however, will be discovered later.

Second, in addition to the locales shown in-game, this story will also explore additional ones such as Corpus cities and high-rises, Grineer Colony Ships, places that really add a 3rd dimension to the world by showing all these colonists that come up so often, as well as the non-military aspect of life in this era in general. As another one-off point, the "Spectres" I added as an explanation for why these "Tenno Cells" have so much trouble and repeatedly fall to the likes of Sargas Ruk and the Jackal, and yet we (The player) get sent to deal with them like we'd make a difference. Gambling on the thought that "Maybe _these _Tenno won't die a horrible and tragic death" like saying that these Cells were other Warframe-possessing Tenno would imply is a bit more of a risk than I'd expect the Lotus to take. As such, these Spectres are simple synthetic beings with basic AI programming and controlled en masse by Ordis who manage tasks such as excavation of old artifacts and resources. I'll depict them in further detail later on.

Third, as I've heard some back-and-forth about the Technocyte virus being the source of Tenno power, in this story that explanation is kicked out: Going off of Excalibur's Codex entry, the way this story translates it is that, essentially, all the Tenno were loaded onto an auto-piloted ship sent careening into the Void. In there, the Void's mysterious and confusing power corrupted each of them in a unique way, making them like demigods coursing with raw, untapped power that was unique to each one. The Warframe, as in Vor's message to his Queens regarding dissected Tenno, is just a conduit to enable them to channel this power into a tangible, usable form. Going on that, for this story each Tenno is completely unique with their own, custom-built Warframe, so Excalibur is _the _Excalibur, not _a _Excalibur, for example. In this, the Technocyte virus is just a lab-made bio-weapon that was made with the intention of using the Sentients' concept of turning their enemy's weapons against their makers, hence why it infects and overtakes other things. Needless to say, the classic "Underestimated potency" mumbo jumbo follows and the Orokin didn't quite anticipate the virus' capability for sentience and indiscriminate targeting of all non-Infested. So, in this story, the Technocyte Virus is just a rampant Bio-Weapon that was thought eliminated, but not actually so.

Due to that, technically, the Tenno in this aren't reliant on their Warframes for survival (Unlike in the Technocyte theory where their Warframes kept the infestation from turning them into grotesque super-creatures aligned with the Infested). Unfortunately, so far I can't figure any good way to depict that, as I'm sticking with the helmets not being easily removable unlike a normal helmet, and to boot I can't exactly pull the Tank-top-and-shorts schtick that works just fine with Spartans outside of armor, for obvious reasons. Moving on to my last two points about the Tenno, I'll be putting in a chapter every now and then that shows how each Tenno got where they are now, which in the long term will explain their motives and why they behave the way they do in the present. I'll do Nekros first to make up for his admittedly weak portrayal in this chapter (Most of this chapter's almost a year old, right up until just before Zephyr's appearance, so my writing capability back then was quite weaker than it is now), but question is when. Maybe every fifth chapter or so?

Finally, here's a list of the Tenno not seen in this chapter and where they are:

Trinity: In Dojo, will appear next chapter.

Hydroid: Not in Dojo, won't be appearing until that Grineer underwater base tileset is either released or given a playable teaser like Earth Jungle or Corpus Ice World since that's where I want to depict him being found, and I want to do it accurately.

Oberon: Not in Dojo, in VoidTomb on Earth.

Loki: In Dojo, might appear next chapter

Mirage: Appearance will be a surprise, hence I can't spoil it right now.

Limbo: Same as Mirage.

Ash: In Dojo

Nova: Technically, you've already seen her…..

Excalibur: VoidTomb on Mercury, as stated in the actual chapter dialogue

Valkyr: In Alad V's labs

Volt: In Dojo

Mag: Alad V's labs


	2. New Deals, New Friends

Chapter 2: New Deals, New Friends

_Two days later, Corpus Gas-Cities, Jupiter_

While there were plenty of industrial regions in the Corpus Gas Cities, above all that was a luxurious, high-class civilian area where the human elite lived. Anything from weapons designers to pioneering engineers and marketing directors, a residence in the Corpus Gas Cities was considered a high status symbol. The lower class weren't allowed in at all unless they were a service worker, and being a politician was considered entry level occupation for a Grineer to even set foot here. Of course, when something like the fabled Tenno arrive at your door, they get a free pass assuming they aren't armed.

"Just as planned; speak to nobody, seek out our targets, and make contact." The Lotus spoke as Nekros, Zephyr, Vauban, and Trinity arrived at the edge of a grand, almost estate-like residence. Their Lisets pulling up in their trademark vertical point as their occupants departed, the Tenno were quickly noticed. A trio of three Corpus Crewmen speed-walking up to them with guns drawn, the air almost got more tense as the Tenno didn't change posture. Even when threatened, the Tenno just stood there in a casual stance, almost glaring at the Crewmen through their faceless helmets. Not even saying a word, the Crewman in front got an in-helmet notification, after which he strangely signaled for the other two Crewmen to back off. Wanting to make a strong point, Nekros passed right next to one of the Crewmen, turning his head to glare right into the Crewman's visor as he slowly passed.

Ascending the grey, metallic steps into the actual estate, all the conversation and festivities stopped as one, then five, then all the guests within visual range of the Tenno almost froze. Still calmly walking, the Tenno were given a wide berth as the other guests slowly started to make an attempt at getting back in their old rhythm. Not even slightly interested in the majority of the guests, the Tenno split up, Trinity and Zephyr searching for Darvo while Nekros and Vauban searched for Myvra, the leader of the Steel Meridian. Why she gave only a first name and no last, they could only assume it was a security reason.

Coming to a large table with a series of guests that were split 50/50 between formalwear and helmetless Crewman outfits, Zephyr and Trinity quickly caught the attention of their target.

"Oh, uh, excuse me for a moment, I have a business deal to attend to." Darvo bid farewell, putting down the sub-average, fancy alcoholic drink he was only pretending to like. Eliciting a strongly annoyed expression from his father, Frohd Bek, who was sitting right next to him, Darvo quickly tried to put some space between him and the table. "Right, so you are the Tenno I was told would be here?"

Not getting a single word out of either Tenno, Darvo instead got a small electronic tablet passed to him, presenting a pre-written message detailing what they'd need and what they offered in return.

"40 Braton rifles, 80 Lato pistols, and 40 single Skana blades? This is…..this is like surplus stock, you don't want anything even a little stronger?" Darvo asked in confusion, finding he'd be able to fill an order like this later today. Junk weapons such as those were made en masse for the middle-class civilian market, he had hundreds of them. The most complex reaction he got being a slow left-to-right head turn from Zephyr, Darvo gave an open-armed gesture that screamed 'Alright, but don't think I didn't say it was a bad idea'.

Passing the tablet back, Darvo decided to take the opportunity of already being away from his father to go with the two Tenno, Trinity and Zephyr not having much to do as they waited for Nekros and Vauban to hit their mark.

_Meanwhile, with Nekros and Vauban, estate rooftop….._

Having checked the first and second floors as best they could for Myvra, Nekros and Vauban were now onto the roof, where their target was finally found.

"You the Tenno? Steel Meridian, we fight for the weak and the innocent, and I'm sure you intend to do the same." Myvra greeted, her right hand outstretched to shake hands with one of them. Unfortunately, all she got in return was a tablet much like the one handed to Darvo placed between her fingers. Mildly peeved at the gesture, Myvra took a look at it, just as a video feed was brought up on it.

"I believe we've spoken before, you're Myvra? Of the Steel Meridian?" The Lotus asked, being a speaker on the Tenno's behalf when dealing with outsiders.

"Yeah, I met your two errand boys. Not the most polite people around." Myvra remarked, giving a distinct glare to Vauban, who passed the tablet over to begin with.

"The Tenno don't talk to those they don't trust. Maybe with time, but for now, our primary concern needs to be if we can trust you. You said you have something for us?" The Lotus explained, having come into this knowing that Myvra had a proposition.

"That I do. Some of my people found one of your fancy tombs on Earth, probably has another one of your Tenno inside. We stole a Void Key from Captain Vor, but he can probably pry it open with that key he keeps stuck to his chest. Weather's pretty turbulent on Earth right now, so Vor can't fly in and see what's on the other side for himself, and if I know him, he'll want to be there when it pops open. Promise to help the Steel Meridian, and I'll give your boys the key and coordinates to the Tomb right now." Myvra bargained, snapping her fingers just before a Steel Meridian Lancer tossed the Void Key in question to her.

"You have my word. Once we confirm your information is valid, we'll be open to assist you in any way possible." The Lotus agreed, causing Myvra to toss the Void Key to Nekros. A small keypad replacing the video display, Myvra inputted the coordinates to the tomb before passing the tablet back over to Vauban.

"Pleasure doing business with you. Maybe with a few Tenno we can finally make a difference." Myvra thanked, turning back to face the edge of the roof.

_Meanwhile, in the lower floors of the estate…_

While Nekros, Zephyr, Trinity, and Vauban were up top being sociable, Banshee, Frost, Rhino, and Ember were down below, attending to more…._underhanded matters._

Their Lisets searing a hole through the walls of the lower floors, the four Tenno disembarked, their Lisets sticking to the side of the estate like magnets to a metal sheet. Having a small, 15-foot drop to make, each Tenno landed in a crouched position, slowly rising up one after another. All unarmed, their goal was to attain whatever information they might find useful, and maybe acquire some weaponry while they were at it. Not sure if anyone was listening, all four Tenno stayed quiet as they left the storage room they'd broken into. Taking slow, gentle steps, their element of surprise only lasted a few painful seconds as a Crewman exited a door they were just about to pass.

Raising his weapon in alarm, a measly one shot was fired before Rhino, being the first to strike, ran shoulder-first into the Crewman, knocking him back-first into the doorframe. Swinging a hard left hook into the side of the Crewman's helmet, Rhino knocked the man right over and back into the room he came from. Having only been a different storage room from the one they landed in, this left no witnesses as Rhino grabbed the Crewman by the shins. Turning to his left, Rhino did so with enough force to lift the Crewman off the floor, slamming him face-first into the wall. Trying to reach for his gun, this action was cut short as Rhino swung a hard kick into the side of the Crewman's helmet, knocking it free from his armor. With his face exposed, the Crewman was helpless as Rhino picked up his Dera rifle before using it to execute the downed human.

Tossing the Dera to Frost, Rhino figured the cryo-Tenno would have more use for it. Carrying on down the hall, the four Tenno arrived at a glass pane overlooking the last thing they expected:

_A factory line just below the estate_

"They've got a factory line down here…..it's probably too heavily guarded to take on just now, I say we-" The Lotus began to instruct, being cut off as an explosion erupted from one of the conveyor lines below them. The force jarring the entire structure, it also split one of the overhanging conveyor lines in two, the split pieces coming down on the rest of it below. Crushing stock and guards alike, the only silver lining was that advanced sound suppression and shock absorbers built into the base of the estate meant none of the guests above would hear it.

Deciding they needed to hurry, the Tenno turned to their left and through a wide door, looking for anything that seemed valuable. Stopping by a sealed door, the Tenno still found something valuable in the way of eavesdropping.

"And what do you call that?! Are some of your Grineer here to try and kill me?" A voice that sounded distinctly like a normal human accused, probably a Corpus high-ranker.

"I'd rate it as more likely being one of your faceless workers failing at his job, Alad, but say what you wish." A less human voice countered, sounding like the person had some vocal augmentations.

"I don't care who you are, Councilor, question my competence again, and I'll see to it that your bellicose, self-entitled mechanical ass never sets _foot _in another Grineer/Corpus bargain." The first voice, evidently belonging to a man named Alad, threatened.

"And who would you speak to instead, Sargas Ruk? Your options are him, Lech Kril the war hero, a Tenno-obsessed Captain, and a mad scientist who's more focused on gene repair than he is on the health and safety of his subjects. Even _if _I have an attitude problem, I'm your best option." Hek countered, pointing out just how few options Alad really had.

"We'll see how long that lasts." Alad muttered, contemplating cutting off the Grineer. Deciding they'd heard enough, the Tenno moved away from the door before its occupants possibly exited, carrying on down the hall. Finding a staircase down, the Tenno quickly mantled over the handrails, making for a speedy way down as they tried to see if they could claim any good schematic data from the assembly lines. Coming to a windowed-in area with Crewmen overseeing the automated systems that made it all run, they seemed tense, as if they were being asked to guard their position from a threat.

Making the first move, Banshee passed out in front, a Crewman yelling something in the bizarre language the Corpus used before, in the blink of an eye and a forward shove of Banshee's right hand, a wave of pure, concentrated sound blew the Crewman right off his feet. Having been oriented near a window, the blast came with enough force to send him through said window, shattering it to bits as he collided with it. About to open fire on the Tenno, a different Crewman was cut short as a row of crystalline ice spikes ran along the ground in a B-Line for him, spearing through the bottom of his feet and freezing him solid. Still technically savable if left untouched, this hope was quite literally shattered as Frost slid along the ground towards him, kicking off the ground afterwards to deliver a high-kick to the Crewman's head. Shattering the unsuspecting guard into a million pieces, his Dera rifle was thankfully untouched.

Grabbing it in his left hand, Frost tossed the rifle over to Banshee, who stepped back to avoid a shower of concentrated energy as a Crewman in a white suit instead of the typical orangey-brown fired on her with what looked to be a small hand-shotgun. Righting her grip on the rifle before firing directly into the white Crewman's gun-barrel, the overload of plasma caused the gun to go haywire, going off in the Crewman's hand like a grenade. Backing away as the flash of blue light enveloped the Crewman, Banshee went the far way around a metal pillar in the room, sneaking up behind a different Crewman before kicking him in the back of the knee. Dropping to a kneel, the Crewman was helpless as Banshee struck the back of the man's helmet with a closed left fist, the fact that it was enveloped in coursing green energy serving as a tell for the small sonic boom it let off on impact. Blowing a hole right through the Crewman's helmet from front to back, it was a messy end for the last enemy in the room as Rhino finished hurling a different Crewman out the shattered window, claiming the man's Dera rifle for himself. Ember, meanwhile, had claimed a Detron hand cannon for herself off of a different white Crewman.

"This place isn't salvageable, all the computers are going offline and transferring their contents to off-site data stores. Also, I had to move your Lisets to avoid them getting struck by debris, and I've marked their new location. Get to them, and get out of there." The Lotus directed, calling off this little espionage operation before it really began. About to turn and leave, the door they moved towards opened seemingly on its own, with an unexpected surprise on the other side. Armed with only her Regulator pistols, Mesa slowly walked into the room, having to move slow due to helping a seemingly injured Mag along.

"Her Warframe's showing signs of burn damage, other than that she seems fine. Mesa, I'm linking your Warframe back into the network and recalling your Liset to where everyone else's is. Follow them and get out of there." The Lotus instructed, noticing that Mag's burn damage was at key joints like the knees, neck, shoulders, and where the thighs joined with the pelvis. Even stranger, the damage showed signs of being inflicted almost by a high-heat cutter of some sort, like someone was trying to cut her apart into segments. Rhino making a silent gesture to offer taking Mag. Agreeing, Mesa let the large Tenno take over, throwing Mag up over his left shoulder. Trading weapons with Ember, Rhino was now the one with a Detron and a slightly displeased Tenno who wasn't content with the image of being carried like this, and even more displeased with her lack of something to do about it.

Heading out the door Mesa came through, the 6 Tenno came to a railing which they needed to drop over, Mesa offering to take the lead on the enemies at the bottom. Leaping over, Mesa landed foot-first atop the heads of two Prod Crewmen that were standing guard, the tips of her heels spearing through the top of their helmets. Leaping into a front-flip off their heads, Mesa landed upright just in front of them before turning to face the two Crewmen, her Regulators aimed in on their visors. Dropping both of them, Mesa heard the heavy footsteps of a third Prod Crewman's thick, metal boots clanking against the floor behind her. Raising her left leg, Mesa swung it to the left as a means to quickly spin 180 degrees, her left foot touching back down just as her right one raised to slash her bladed heel against the Crewman's chest. Landing her right foot firmly, Mesa kept up the momentum, continuing the spin as she lifted her left foot again, jabbing it heel-first into the Crewman's chest. Disoriented and slightly stuck, the Crewman was about to strike Mesa with his prod when she turned her head to look at him, raising her left Regulator before blowing his brains right out like the other two.

The other Tenno dropping down with the coast clear, Banshee, Frost, and Ember quickly helped themselves to the free melee weapons, even if they weren't too trustworthy of foreign weapons just yet. Moving through a door to their right, Ember took the lead this time as they encountered a new enemy, a variant on the typical MOA units seen upstairs that were painted orange. Hurling a fireball right into one's back, the machine was oddly fragile, the fireball going right through its shields and propelling it off its feet. Seeing that they weren't too far from their Lisets, the rise in hope also brought a rise in opposition, their Lisets being through a door to their left while a copious amount of hostiles came from a door to the right. Catching a golden opportunity, Mesa waited as two large Crewmen toting what seemed to LMGs of some kind stepped through the door, firing a round into the large, brightly painted canister by the door. Setting off a rattling explosion almost like the one heard when all this kicked off, the Crewmen were blown apart as the frame of the door caved in, slowing down further troops. Making a wide-swinging 'move!' gesture, Mesa led the way as all 6 Tenno barged through into an overlooking control room, the reinforced glass giving a view of their Lisets floating side by side against a landing pad.

With two more of those large red Crewmen having been pre-occupied pecking away at digital keyboard interfaces, they turned just in time to see Rhino lift his foot high, slamming it back down. In the blink of an eye, things almost seemed to distort as chunks of metal and glass drifted in limbo, the shattering windows almost being unaffected by time as they floated there, their knife blade-sized shards gently turning in place as the Crewmen froze too, stopped in mid-flight as Rhino's stomp launched them off their feet. Gently drifting through what seemed to be a distortion of time itself, the Crewmen were helpless as Rhino and the others stepped past them, jumping down to the landing pad. Home-free, Rhino took Mag along in his Liset as the others boarded theirs, the Lotus sending an alert for the four Tenno up top to depart too.

_Hours Later, at the Dojo…._

"How did you know we'd be there? Did the Lotus contact you after you broke free?" Banshee asked, walking alongside Mesa as they left the Liset bay.

"Nope, I was following a lead based on some Corpus chatter I picked up at the base they set up outside my tomb. I followed it to that factory line and decided, since I couldn't break into the computers, it would be best to do some damage. Before things really kicked off there, I found Mag strung up in some kind of metal human-shaped restraint device. Judging by the glowing rings around her major joints, I'd guess whoever ran the place was going to cut her to pieces for some reason." Mesa answered, hesitant to admit that it was completely and totally her intentional fault that the production line practically fell apart. If Banshee asked, she was probably just going to give some cheap lie about crossfire.

"That's….unsettling. I'm sure the Lotus will want to know about it, hopefully with guns of our own we can do a bit more digging where we don't belong." Banshee answered, taking note out of the corner of her eye as Trinity could be seen helping a newly-awoken Loki out of the cryo-room. "By the way, while Frost, Nyx, and Ash are getting Excalibur, how would you like to go with Rhino, Zephyr, and Nekros to Earth for a possible rescue? We spoke with the leader of a rebel faction willing to help us, and she gave us possible info on another VoidTomb. If it _is _real, I'd rather save whoever's inside before the Grineer get to them. If it's a Tenno, save them and bring them back here."

"What else would it be?" Mesa asked, finding Banshee's wording a bit strange. What she said next reminded Mesa of the…event…..that made them go into secluded slumber in the first place.

"If it's a member of the Orokin that slipped by us, kill them with extreme prejudice."

Post-Chapter Note

And with that is the conclusion of chapter 2, hope it was better than the first one (If rewriting it from scratch didn't mean delaying its release by at least a few weeks as I figure out how to restructure the whole thing, I probably would've done so.). Now that the Tenno have demonstrated more of how they work in the field so to speak, I hope this story will start to look less like it has a flippant disregard for some core things in Warframe. Speaking of which, some things I wanted to explain:

In the long term Mesa won't be restricted to just her Regulators, she's just using them so liberally now because she hasn't had a real chance to stop and claim a weapon. To boot, part of her personality will be a distaste for energy weapons, so the Corpus wouldn't be all that appealing in that regard to her. There will be other little tells that differentiate their personalities, such as Ember having more of a taste for vulgarity when speaking, but for the most part I'm going to leave those to be discovered as the story goes on. I've settled chapter 5 will be Nekros' origin chapter, being a flashback to the Orokin era and showing how he ended up becoming a Tenno. Not saying anything more than that on it for now. Any comments on the concepts mentioned in the last Chapter Note or about happenings in this chapter are vastly appreciated, because I won't know if I'm doing something blatantly wrong if there's nobody to say yay or nay in the first place.

Finally, I know the large Supra-toting Crewmen are called Techs, I just referred to them as Crewmen because I was speaking from the POV of the Tenno, who haven't discovered properly that there's a naming difference yet, and only see them as Jumbo Crewmen as a result. Between this chapter and the next they will have learned the name difference, so it won't be a lingering factor.


End file.
